Historically, security alarm systems have relied upon the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to connect an alarm system to a central alarm monitoring station, so that alarm event data may be communicated from the alarm system to the central alarm monitoring station. These conventional alarm systems are configured to place an audio-band voice call to the central alarm monitoring station and transmit alarm event data to the central alarm monitoring station using (DTMF) touch tone codes, for example. Alarm systems equipped with two-way voice or ambient sound listening functionality have relied upon the same PSTN connection to connect a two-way audio-band voice call between the alarm system and the central alarm monitoring station. In this manner, an agent at the central alarm monitoring station is able to listen to ambient sounds captured by microphones at the premises where the alarm system is installed via the audio-band voice call. Similarly, the voice of the agent is communicated via the audio-band voice call and amplified by speakers and associated circuitry of the alarm system.
Some alarm systems substitute Voice over IP (VoIP) communications services for the PSTN. These systems also communicate both alarm event data and voice over a two-way audio-band voice channel established using the VoIP service. It is noted that, for VoIP-equipped alarm systems, additional flexibility in the manner by which the alarm systems connect to central monitoring stations would be desirable. For example, while conventional alarm systems are configured to establish and maintain a voice channel upon the occurrence of an alarm event, the establishment of the voice channel is not evaluated by any means. In this context, it would be desirable to achieve additional flexibility for alarm system monitoring service providers, so that the establishment of the voice channel may be based, in part, upon considerations evaluated by the providers and system maintained by the providers. Additionally, it would be desirable to leverage the benefits of using VoIP communications in place of the PSTN. For example, it would be desirable to leverage the speed and flexibility offered by using VoIP communications.
The present invention is directed to addressing the deficiencies of and achieving improvements over the above-discussed conventional systems by efficiently and flexibly delivering alarm system event data and audio.